The long-term results of ankle joint synovectomy for rheumatoid arthritis

The clinical and radiological results of synovectomy for rheumatoid arthritis in the ankle joint were investigated in 20 ankles of 15 patients. The average follow-up period after synovectomy was 15 years, ranging from 10 to 25 years. The clinical evaluation at the time of follow-up, found that only two ankles showed recurrence of synovitis, and no patient complained of severe ankle pain disturbing the activities of daily life. During the period between the synovectomy and our investigation, no patients required further surgical procedures for their ankle joints. The radiological evaluation found that in approximately two-thirds of the cases, deterioration of the radiological grade, evaluated with Larsen's criteria, had continued after synovectomy. There was no considerable radiological deterioration in the less-erosive subset patients, classified according to Ochi's criteria (1). In the unilateral synovectomized cases, using the non-operated ankles as the natural-course control, osteoarthritic changes were predominant in the operated ankle joint, and the non-operated ankle demonstrated inflammatory disease changes. These results indicate that: (1) synovectomy for a rheumatoid ankle is still a preferred treatment, lessening the clinical symptom of persistent, marked synovial proliferation resistant to medical treatment. (2) Radiological deterioration continues after synovectomy in many cases. However, a radiogram demonstrates predominant osteoarthritic destruction, which indicates the natural course of rheumatoid destruction in the operated site could be altered by synovectomy.